A process to touch up painting flaws is known in which, after polishing, the flawed site is surrounded by a foam ring and the area delimited by the ring is cooled down to a temperature of approximately minus 40.degree. C. (minus 40.degree. F.) by means of gaseous nitrogen having a temperature of approximately minus 160.degree. C. (minus 256.degree. F.). After this temperature has been reached, the polishing operation is started. As soon as the cooled site has warmed up to a temperature of approximately minus 10.degree. C. (14.degree. F.), the polishing operation is discontinued and the site is cooled down once again.
In order to improve this discontinuous process, the suggestion has been made to carry out the cooling down and the polishing operations simultaneously. However, no statements are made as to how this could be accomplished.
This discontinuous process has the disadvantage that it is time-consuming and expensive with respect to the necessary equipment. A ring is needed to isolate the flawed site, several cooling phases are necessary and the polishing disk has to be taken out of the ring in order to apply the polishing agent.